The Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) will fund half the Foodplus programme, which is proposed by meat exporter Anzco Foods, committing $43.5 million over seven years.
Foodplus will identify opportunities to create new products, with a particular focus on parts of the beef carcass that currently generate less value.
The company has identified three markets for innovative new products - food, ingredients and healthcare.
Anzco welcomed the opportunity to partner with the Crown, as it was a large-scale project that would not be achievable without collaboration, the company's food and solutions division chief executive Rennie (CRCT) Davidson said.
Anzco Foods is a multinational group of companies, with sales of $1.3 billion. It is better known to farmers by its processing plants and cattle feedlot - CMP, Riverlands and Five Star Beef.
Adding further value to the carcass was essential for the future success of the meat industry. Anzco's vision for Foodplus was "relevant and bold" and was now backed by a significant investment, Ministry for Primary Industries director-general Wayne McNee said.
Primary Industries Minister David Carter said the proposal was "exactly" what the PGP was all about - transforming great
ideas into tangible research and development programmes which were focused on results.
The announcement lifted the total government-industry investment in PGP since its inception three years ago to $665 million.
